4 ms·

One man saved a generation of premature babies (2016)

74 points by osener 3y ago

btilly 3y ago
This has been posted several times over the years. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23701556 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23701556 seems to be the only previous discussion with comments though.
weinzierl 3y ago
The invention of incubators and the idea to supply premature babies' underdeveloped lungs with oxygen is hard to underestimate. Unfortunately for a short time after invention some doctors thought that more helps more and exposed the babies to very high oxygen concentrations without knowing that this hinders the development of the retina and leads to blindness. Probably the most well-known victim of this unfortunate phase is Steveland Morris aka Stevie Wonder.
- lhamil64 3y ago
  I'm pretty sure that's what caused my blindness. My dad has even told me that he remembers thinking at the time that 100% oxygen wasn't a good idea. I'm kind of lucky though that only one retina fully detached. They were able to save one eye, so I have some vision at least.
  - taxicabjesus 3y ago
    The tragedy of #OxygenToxicity is that the antidote was known, and was becoming normal medicine, but got forgotten around 1950/1960. The tragedy of 2020 is how the doctors tried to help their patients with toxic amounts of oxygen. I referred to that episode as the tragedy of #MedicalHyperventilation. I’m optimistic that regeneration will be the next breakthrough in medicine.
- lynx23 3y ago
  The effect of blindness though incubators was so pronounced that these days, assistive technology companies put a significant amount of revenue decrease towards this having been fixed. IOW, the incubator misuse created a whole generation of blind people and a whole industry around them.
- User23 3y ago
  As an aside Stevie Wonder is active in the NFB and at CSUN. I’ve never had the opportunity to meet him, but he greatly contributes to the blind community.
- spidersouris 3y ago
  Interesting. I wasn't aware of that. On the same topic of vision, a recent study argues that preemies are also more susceptible to astigmatism and myopia, whether they have retinopathy or not[0]. As a preemie myself (born 28 weeks), I have a feeling that even though there has been much work on the immediate effects of prematurity, the long-term consequences of being born prematurely have, on the contrary, been severely understudied. And let's not even mention the causes themselves -- even though some effects or behaviours from the mother may increase the chances of giving birth prematurely (smoking, stress), nothing seems to be absolutely set in stone, at least as far as I know. [0] https://tp.amegroups.org/article/view/39381/30467 https://tp.amegroups.org/article/view/39381/30467
Georgelemental 3y ago
[flagged]
toomuchtodo 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_A._Couney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_A._Couney
nashashmi 3y ago
Imagine charging people to see medical procedures in hospitals. We can call it the hospital circus.
- cogman10 3y ago
  Interestingly, the end of public medical procedures is fairly recent in US history. There's a Seinfeld episode that revolves around a public procedure. [1] [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697715/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697715/
- cfu28 3y ago
  I mean, it’s called a operating theater for a reason
- aaomidi 3y ago
  The show the artful dodger showcases this quite a bit. Heck it’s how the surgeons got paid.
smulloni 3y ago
The best treatment of this historical topic in print is Dawn Raffel's The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: https://www.dawnraffel.com/drcouney https://www.dawnraffel.com/drcouney Dr. Couney also features in Raffel's fictional Boundless as the Sky: https://www.dawnraffel.com/boundlessasthesky https://www.dawnraffel.com/boundlessasthesky

74 points by osener 3y ago

This has been posted several times over the years. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23701556 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23701556 seems to be the only previous discussion with comments though.

weinzierl 3y ago

The invention of incubators and the idea to supply premature babies' underdeveloped lungs with oxygen is hard to underestimate. Unfortunately for a short time after invention some doctors thought that more helps more and exposed the babies to very high oxygen concentrations without knowing that this hinders the development of the retina and leads to blindness. Probably the most well-known victim of this unfortunate phase is Steveland Morris aka Stevie Wonder.

lhamil64 3y ago
I'm pretty sure that's what caused my blindness. My dad has even told me that he remembers thinking at the time that 100% oxygen wasn't a good idea. I'm kind of lucky though that only one retina fully detached. They were able to save one eye, so I have some vision at least.
- taxicabjesus 3y ago
  The tragedy of #OxygenToxicity is that the antidote was known, and was becoming normal medicine, but got forgotten around 1950/1960. The tragedy of 2020 is how the doctors tried to help their patients with toxic amounts of oxygen. I referred to that episode as the tragedy of #MedicalHyperventilation. I’m optimistic that regeneration will be the next breakthrough in medicine.
lynx23 3y ago
The effect of blindness though incubators was so pronounced that these days, assistive technology companies put a significant amount of revenue decrease towards this having been fixed. IOW, the incubator misuse created a whole generation of blind people and a whole industry around them.
User23 3y ago
As an aside Stevie Wonder is active in the NFB and at CSUN. I’ve never had the opportunity to meet him, but he greatly contributes to the blind community.
spidersouris 3y ago
Interesting. I wasn't aware of that. On the same topic of vision, a recent study argues that preemies are also more susceptible to astigmatism and myopia, whether they have retinopathy or not[0]. As a preemie myself (born 28 weeks), I have a feeling that even though there has been much work on the immediate effects of prematurity, the long-term consequences of being born prematurely have, on the contrary, been severely understudied. And let's not even mention the causes themselves -- even though some effects or behaviours from the mother may increase the chances of giving birth prematurely (smoking, stress), nothing seems to be absolutely set in stone, at least as far as I know. [0] https://tp.amegroups.org/article/view/39381/30467 https://tp.amegroups.org/article/view/39381/30467

Georgelemental 3y ago

[flagged]

toomuchtodo 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_A._Couney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_A._Couney

nashashmi 3y ago

Imagine charging people to see medical procedures in hospitals. We can call it the hospital circus.

cogman10 3y ago
Interestingly, the end of public medical procedures is fairly recent in US history. There's a Seinfeld episode that revolves around a public procedure. [1] [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697715/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697715/
cfu28 3y ago
I mean, it’s called a operating theater for a reason
aaomidi 3y ago
The show the artful dodger showcases this quite a bit. Heck it’s how the surgeons got paid.

smulloni 3y ago

The best treatment of this historical topic in print is Dawn Raffel's The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: https://www.dawnraffel.com/drcouney https://www.dawnraffel.com/drcouney Dr. Couney also features in Raffel's fictional Boundless as the Sky: https://www.dawnraffel.com/boundlessasthesky https://www.dawnraffel.com/boundlessasthesky